Hidden Photo
by doubleblood
Summary: What does genius billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark do at boring Stark industries meetings? The same thing any sane person would do, doodle on his notes! But it's what he's been doodling that surprises Bruce. Bruce Banner/Tony Stark!
1. Chapter 1

**Inspired by this wonderful drawing right here! feriowind dot deviantart dot com / gallery /#/ d54r2b2 **

**Hope you like it!**

"I'm not forcing you to stay." Tony smiled, "Just… use Stark Towers until you find where you want to go. Hell, you can even use one of my planes to get you there. And I'll make some super stretchy pants for you. Okay?"

Bruce stared at him for a while, "Tony, I… I don't want to cause any trouble."

"No trouble at all!" Tony laughed at the mere notion that Bruce would pose a problem, "The worst that could happen is you Hulk out, destroy my Tower and part of the city, SHEILD comes and captures you and I disregard any and all personal safety and get you back and bring you to my penthouse!"

"You are a piece of work, Tony Stark." Bruce groaned.

Tony grinned, "You love me. Come on, at least let me show you to Candy Land."

After seeing Stark Industries R&D department, Bruce decided a couple months there wouldn't hurt.

After all, the worst that could happen is he Hulks out, destroys Stark Tower and part of the city, SHEILD comes and captures him and Tony disregards any and all personal safety and gets him back and brings him to his penthouse.

Lights filled the room. Bruce groaned and pulled the blankets over his head, hiding away.

"Rise and shine, Doctor Banner."

Pepper.

"I never believed Tony when he said you were evil, Miss Potts… but I'm starting to."

"Tony's away for a week on official business and I have just that long to clean everything. Wake up, get dressed, and hide whatever you don't want me to see. I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

And she left. Bruce sighed and sat up, letting the blankets fall of their own accord before dragging himself out of bed.

Tony just _had_ to leave open the files to his arc reactor's inner workings, didn't he? Bruce looked at the clock on the bedside table. He'd gone to sleep about… forty-five minutes ago.

He pulled himself out of bed and stumbled over to the closet, grabbing a random shirt and pair of pants. He mulled over his brain of what all possessions he had and if Tony had said to keep anything away from pepper.

Nope. Nothing to hide.

He yawned and got dressed, shaking away his drowsiness and grabbing his glasses.

"Miss Potts?" He called.

A minute later she appeared, "Yes, Doctor Banner?"

"Would you like any help?" He smiled, "I mean, I'm taking up space here and using your resources, I feel as though I should do something to earn your hospitality."

"You want to earn all the stuff Tony's given you? Try cleaning his room. You can earn it when you violently murder him." She chuckled, "Try to find all of the booze, if you please."

He smiled at her, "And please, just call me Bruce."

"Then just call me Pepper." She chuckled, "I hope you like Pop Tarts, because that's about all the breakfast food we keep here."

She wasn't kidding.

After toasting a pair of S'mores and devouring them with a glass of water, he made his way up to Tony's room.

"_I must warn you, Master Bruce, it is a _disaster _in there." _JARVIS told him, _"I do believe one of his older Iron man designs is still lost in the shambles."_

Okay, if the robot is complaining, this must be horrific.

"Wonderful." Bruce smiled. What better way to thank everyone?

Besides, Tony was always groaning that he couldn't find notes he'd written or schematics he'd drawn.

Good God…

Had something died in here?

"JARVIS, open all the windows!" Bruce coughed, "I'm going to Hulk Out because I can't _breathe_!"

The windows flew open and Bruce ran over to the nearest, gasping for air. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths and calming himself.

"It's okay, Big Guy…" He told himself- or, rather, the monster inside himself, "It's just Tony's disgusting room. No danger… I think…"

He turned back to face the mess again and groaned.

Immediately, the decided to find out where the hell Tony's bed was. Based on his own room, it should be in the middle of the room… He began sorting out everything he found.

"JARVIS_,_ can I get some baskets up here or something?"

"_Of course, Master Bruce."_

For the moment, Bruce piled things separately. At the moment, he had three piles.

Clothes. Paper. Alcohol.

The disheartening part was that the clothes and booze piles were about equal in size. Bruce sighed and walked back over to the windows, taking in a gulp of fresh air. He sighed for a minute, putting his hand to his chest. He always felt as if this was the closest way to comforting the Hulk… after all, they were only separated by a few heartbeats.

He turned when he heard the door open. Pepper walked in a couple of steps, dropped some baskets, and smiled, "Having fun?"

"Oh, barrels full. You'll have to sedate me to calm me down." He replied sarcastically.

She laughed, "I'd pat you on the back, but on my way over to you I'd get lost and die. Just call if you need anything else."

"Oxygen, maybe?" He smiled and waved as she left. He made his way over to the piles he'd created and filled a few of the baskets. He filled about three baskets with clothes, two with bottles and cups, and two with papers. Well… at least he was beginning to see the floor.

"Hey, Pepper, how're we doing?" Tony smiled.

"_We're doing perfectly fine. I have someone to help me clean for once." _Pepper's smile was audible over the phone, _"He even offered."_

Tony chuckled, "Aw, Bruce, the ever-loving housewife. Put him on the phone, will you?"

"_Yeah, right. I'm not risking my life by going into _your_ bedroom."_

Tony paused, "Bruce is… cleaning my room?"

"_I was joking when I told him to do it, but I don't think he caught that. And he's determined. He thinks it'll help pay you back for all that we've done for him."_

"He caught me from a death fall from the other side of the universe and he thinks he has to pay me back? Patch me through to him with JARVIS."

"_Fine, fine. Give me a minute." _She went silent for a while, sending his call through to Bruce.

"_Tony?"_

"You don't have to do this, Bruce."

"_Jesus Christ, Tony, do you have a liquor bottle for every article of clothing you own? Hey, I found your bed… and some of the carpet."_

"I have carpet? I thought I'd gotten that taken out…"

A pause_, "No… you wrote a note about it but never got to it, I guess… yeah, here it is. Even has what kind of wood you wanted laid down and the price."_

Tony smirked, "You enjoying being in my room? We could make that a permanent thing."

Instead of a reply, he was gifted with the sound of Bruce's coughs. He hesitated.

"Bruce?"

"_What did you kill? Seriously, Tony, I'm having to run to the windows ever few minutes just to get fresh air and calm my heart rate down!"_

"Hey, at last you're going green with Stark Industries." Tony laughed at his own joke.

"_That was so bad I'm embarrassed for you."_

"Well I thought it was punny."

"_Tony. Stop. Just stop." _Bruce groaned, _"When are you coming home?"_

"Aww, you miss me that much?"

"_Um… sure, let's go with that. I'm not planning to paint your room pink with flowers and rainbows. Not at all."_

Tony chuckled, "I'll be back by Saturday."

"_Wonderful. JARVIS, where can we get neon pink paint? And flower stencils, too, if you don't mind."_

"You're so mean. And to think I was gonna buy you a funny hat while I was here." Tony scoffed, "How silly of me to think you actually loved me!"

"_Nobody loves you, Tony. No one at all."_

"The big guy loves me."

"_Nope."_

"He caught me, though."

"_He wanted to eat you. Yep. He told me that. He sure did."_

"And now you talk to the Hulk?"

"_When I sleep, yes, actually. Sometimes. It's really weird. Is this was insane people feel like? The voices in my head think you have problems."_

Tony laughed, "Good God, Banner! Calm your madness! You're scaring the flight attendants!"

"_I'm a mad scientist with the not-so-jolly green giant waiting to burst out of my head. Be afraid. Be very afraid." _Bruce chuckled, _"Well, I'm gonna turn you back over to Pepper. I'm going to go through all of these papers and things..."_

Bruce let JARVIS disconnect him from Tony and grabbed the first basket of paper. He quickly began to sort. Drawings, notes, and photos… drawings, notes, and photos…

"Let's see… Stark Industries… doodles of… is that Thor and Cap? Whatever. Let's see… I'm going to ignore the fact that this is called a Hulkbuster and keep going… doo doo doo… Aw, a photo of Pepper and Rhodey. Hm… S.I., S.I., and… more S.I. notes… doo doo dee da doo…" He paused, "What the hell? This is our… handshake…"

Indeed it was their handshake. Probably stolen from SHIELD security tapes from the angle… but that wasn't weird. After all, he'd found a picture of a squirrel sitting on an old lady earlier. No, the weird part was the bright metallic red ink covering the photo. It was the little hearts drawn around Bruce's face and the very distinct handwriting of 'so cute!' across the top. The weirdest part of all of it, though, was the 'MR. STARK-BANNER!' scribbled through the bottom.

"JARVIS?"

"_Yes, Sir?"_

"Do we have any frames that will fit this photo?"

"_I will check, Sir."_

"Thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

"_Welcome home, Sir."_

Pepper looked up from the couch when she heard JARVIS' voice.

"Hello, buddy." Tony smiled, dropping his suitcase by the door and pulling off his tie, "Hey, Pep. Where's Bruce?"

"You know, I really hope you don't have anything you didn't want him to see in your room, because he's been cleaning your room for hours every day." She smirked, "That's where he is now."

"Nothing I can think of." Tony paused, "Oh, well. Nothing I can't shimmy my way out of. I'll go say hi."

"You do that."

Tony made his way to the elevator, heading up to his room with a smile. The door open and he paused.

"Whoa…"

Bruce looked up from where he was sitting on the floor, "Oh, you're home."

"Hello." Tony looked around, "Damn. You really did a number on this. I've never seen my room look this way."

Bruce stood up and smiled, "Any time, Tony." And he left.

Tony pouted, "Not exactly the welcome home I expected." He went to the closet and put his jacket on one of the empty hangers. He looked through it for a moment, seeing just how organized it was. At the bottom of the closet were two boxes labeled, in purple Sharpie, STARK INDUSTRIES NOTES and IRON MAN DESIGNS.

The room smelt nice and seemed brighter than Tony remembered. He walked over to the bed, chuckling at a brand new bright pink pillow that occupied the space. He sat down, pulling his shoes off, and noticed something. Bruce had framed one of his photos. How sweet.

"Oh, God…"

"Good morning, Tony." Bruce smiled, "We missed you at dinner last night."

The billionaire hesitated, "I… I was tired…"

"Understandable." Bruce nodded, "Would you like some waffles?"

Pepper smiled, "Yes, he would. Eat, Tony. You're going to starve yourself otherwise."

Tony glanced at Bruce, "A-actually, I just remembered I have to call Rhodey about something super important!" He jumped up and made his way out of the room.

"Tony!" Bruce called.

He froze, "Y-yeah?"

Bruce smirked, "Nice photo."

Tony turned bright red, "Th… thanks?"

Silence hung heavily in the air. Bruce hummed as he whipped up a pair of waffles, pouring syrup and grabbed the whipped cream, dousing a small amount on the top and smiled.

"Come eat, Tony. Rhodey can wait."

"Okay…"

Tony turned back and sat down in front of the plate of waffles.

"_Bon appetit, mon cheri_." Bruce smiled before fixing up two more plates similarly, "Want some fruit?"

"S-sure…"

Bruce placed a few blueberries into Tony's whipped cream before adding them to his and Pepper's as well. He handed Pepper hers before sitting next to Tony.

"So…" Bruce smiled, "Mister Stark-Banner?"

"I was drunk."

"No you weren't. You forget, I've seen all your papers. I know what your handwriting looks like sober, rushed, drunk, and everything in between."

"Okay, so I wasn't drunk…"

Bruce bit into his waffles, "So, is that how you feel?"

"No, I placed it there strategically for you to find so I could laugh when you take it seriously."

Bruce Banner was a bully. A huge bully that could turn into an even bigger one if he got mad. And Tony was completely trapped.

"Because, though I'm not willing to jump into marriage, we can work towards it."

He was a big fat, no good, dirty fighti- wait, what?

Tony looked at Bruce, eyes wide, "Really?"

"I admit, I haven't been in a relationship in years" Bruce told him, "But I wouldn't mind trying once more."

Tony could've done a victory dance right there. He almost did, but then Bruce reminded him to eat.

"So… why _did _you decide to doodle all over our first handshake?"

Tony snickered, "If only it was just the handshake. Bruce, I have had the weirdest crush on you for the longest time, it's gone far past funny and borders and pathetic." He stood up and left, coming back with his suitcase in hand, "Ready to cry? Because that's how hard you're going to be laughing. I am sacrificing my ego here. First off, the lock combination for my case is the day I met you." He twisted the numbers and snapped the case open, "And now…" he pulled out a notebook, "the Tony Stark Book of Tiny Notes and Doodles of Bruce. Go ahead. Look."

Bruce took the notebook, opening it and immediately being graced with the sight of… a really adorable drawing of the Hulk carrying Iron Man. As he continued through, he found small Stark Industries notes drifting amongst the hearts and lovey-dovey scribbles of TS+BB and hearts and Iron Man and Hulk and many other variants.

"Wow… Tony, this is…" Bruce snickered, "This is… really funny."

"Told you." Tony sighed, "Borderline pathetic."

"No, this is actually really cute." Bruce smiled, "I like it." He closed the notebook and showed Tony, "I'm keeping this."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am. And I'm going to put all the pages into a cute little scrapbook to hit you with when you annoy me." Bruce smiled.

"Hey, looks like Banner's finally growing some backbone." Tony smiled and pushed a kiss to his forehead, "Good boy."

Bruce blushed, "T-Tony!"

Tony grinned, "You're so cute, Bruce."

"I'm not cute."

"Yes, you are."

"Not."

"You're adorable."

"No, I'm not."

"You're just a sweet little bundle of adorable wrapped in a cute pink bow."

"I'm not cute. I'm the Hulk."

"And he's a sweet big bundle of rawr wrapped in purple pants."

Bruce paused. Did Tony really just say that?

"A sweet… big bundle of… rawr…" Bruce snickered, "wrapped in… purple pants."

Tony grinned.

And that's the grin that had Bruce Banner laughing so hard he fell from his chair, curled up on the ground, and began to cry. Tony paused, trying to calm down his brand-new boyfriend (Tony mentally grinned at that thought) before his heart rate decided to jump.

Pepper smiled to herself. She hadn't believed that Bruce could actually clean up Tony's room, but he had. She looked around, getting reacquainted with the room. Now she could finally help Tony with his suits and things for certain occasions instead of sending him upstairs two days prior to any event to search for it himself.

The first thing she did was look through his closet, memorizing where everything was. She then took his shoes from beside his bed and put them where they belonged in said closet. The next part she explored was the bathroom. For when he got drunk.

"He did a good job." She smiled, "A really good job."

She began looking through all the cabinets and drawers. Bruce had taken all of Tony's photos and put them away in a special box that he'd placed on the dresser, and had even sorted them. He had all of his ties folded up neatly in their own drawer and had left a sticky note on his Hulk boxers that read, in bright purple ink, NICE.

She paused when she saw the Stark-graffitied photo framed on the nightstand. She chuckled and set it down.

After all, she'd known about Tony's little school girl crush on Doctor Banner almost as long as Tony had.

She had many papers since the Loki incident that Tony had given her that had little TS+BB and such drawings and scribbles.


End file.
